Cornell received an F grade in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s College Free Speech Rankings for the sixth year in a row, with a score of 55.5 out of 100.
This score ranks Cornell 219 out of the 261 schools studied, which is eight spots higher than last year’s report.
FIRE is an independent watchdog organization dedicated to protecting free speech on college campuses. Their annual free speech report uses data from policies, controversies and student surveys administered by College Pulse to rank free speech at U.S. universities.
Of the 261 universities studied, 121 received an F for their speech climate, while only 24 schools received a score of C or higher. This marked an improvement from last year’s report, in which 166 universities received an F grade and only 11 boasted a grade of C or higher.
This year’s rankings saw the highest overall score across universities in seven years, according to a press release from FIRE.
FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff pointed to “some progress in campus free speech policies,” but characterized the overall state of campus free speech as “grim” in the press release.
The release also pointed to the influence of recent events on free speech climates.
“The assassination of Charlie Kirk generated a wave of censorship at America’s colleges over the past year, further contributing to a climate in which too many students fear expressing themselves on campus,” FIRE wrote.
The score is broken down into six categories: comfort expressing ideas, disruptive conduct, openness, self-censorship, administrative support and political tolerance.
Cornell’s scores for self-censorship improved, while scores for administrative support and political tolerance decreased from 2025. Comfort expressing ideas, disruptive conduct and openness all stayed the same.
Survey Results
FIRE surveyed 289 Cornell students to inform the University’s score on topics ranging from comfort expressing ideas to disruptive conduct.
Fifty percent of surveyed students reported self-censoring on campus at least once or twice a month. Additionally, 77% responded that shouting down speakers is acceptable “in rare cases” and 32% responded that violence is justified to stop speech in “rare cases.”
The survey also found that 70% of respondents indicated that they would feel uncomfortable talking about the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The majority of respondents reported a left-leaning political alignment, with a ratio of 5.5 liberal students to one conservative student on campus.
A newly added question on the survey asks how “comfortable” respondents are when talking about Charlie Kirk. This addition comes after faculty at several universities have been fired or suspended over comments related to Kirk’s assassination and some colleges have denied recognition of campus chapters of Kirk’s group Turning Point USA.
Over half of surveyed students at Cornell reported that Kirk is “difficult to discuss” on campus.
“The impact of Charlie Kirk’s assassination continues to negatively reverberate on campuses across the country,” wrote FIRE Chief Researcher Sean Stevens. “Rather than view the tragedy as a warning about the extreme results of partisanship and inability to peacefully engage in dialogue, many college admins took it as an invitation to double down on censorship.”
One respondent from the Class of 2025 commented on the free speech climate regarding Greek life at Cornell.
“I felt that [I] could not share my opinion about how Greek life can promote a culture of sexual violence because many classmates are involved in fraternities/sororities and might find the opinion offensive,” the respondent wrote.
FIRE’s ranking for Cornell draws on two “speech controversies,” both of which took place during the 2024-2025 academic year.
The first “speech controversy” took place at the “Pathways to Peace” event in March 2025, where the University invited a panel of speakers to discuss the Israel-Palestine conflict, including Tzipi Livni, a former vice prime minister and former foreign minister of Israel. Pro-Palestinian protestors demonstrated during the event against Cornell inviting Livni to campus, who has faced war crime allegations and a U.K. warrant for her arrest. The protest resulted in 17 students being arrested or detained, as well as a one year suspension of SJP.
FIRE argues that these pro-Palestinian protestors “interrupted and “disrupted” the event, characterizing the protest an instance of “deplatforming,” or an effort to disrupt or stop a speaker or performance.
The second “speech controversy” occurred when Cornell rescinded R&B artist Kehlani’s invitation to headline Slope Day in 2025 due to what President Michael Kotlikoff described as “antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments” regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict. U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) criticized the University for inviting, putting pressure on the Cornell administration, according to FIRE.
Future Efforts
Cornell continues to hold a “yellow” spotlight rating from FIRE, meaning it “maintains policies that could be used to restrict protected speech,” according to FIRE.
One reason for this “yellow” rating is because FIRE found Cornell has not adopted a formal policy on “institutional neutrality,” which they describe as a “commitment to protect the rights of students and faculty to express their views and to engage in academic discourse.”
In February 2026, Cornell’s Presidential Task Force on Institutional Voice issued their final report, calling for “institutional restraint” when making decisions about when to comment on controversial issues.
FIRE recommended that Cornell adopt the Chicago Statement, a free speech policy statement produced by the University of Chicago that asserts that expression cannot be censored by universities based on its viewpoint and outlines narrow exceptions for unlawful activity, targeted harassment or behavior that directly disrupts university operations.
If Cornell were to commit to institutional neutrality and adopt the Chicago Statement, their FIRE score would increase from 55.5 to 61.5 points, raising the University’s letter grade from an F to a D-minus, according to FIRE.
The University did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Cornell’s grade.
Harlan Flamm is a member of the Class of 2029 in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He is a contributor for the news department and can be reached at hpf7@cornell.edu.
